Writer: Gordon Strong
Pastry Stout: Have your cake and drink it too
While sometimes derided among lovers of traditional beer styles, the fact is that pastry stouts are popular and for a reason . . . they can be delicious. Find out what it takes to brew one yourself.
Sapwood Cellars’ Flaked clone
This is their Sapwood Cellars’ Flaked (2021) beer, which is described as an imperial oatmeal stout with coconut and vanilla, and weighs in at 10.5% ABV.
Gordon Strong’s Grape Ale
This grape ale example is based on the version I made with Cervejaria 4 Árvores in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2018.
Bring on the Warmth
Get tips and recipes for brewing three high-ABV styles — barleywine, wheatwine, and imperial stout — that you can brew now to help shake off the frost in the dead of winter.
Winter’s Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout Recipe (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.097 FG = 1.027IBU = 70 SRM = 100 ABV = 9.5% Ingredients12 lbs. (5.4 kg) U.K. pale ale malt3 lbs. (1.4 kg) Munich II
Winter’s Wheatwine
A big, high-gravity recipe to brew a classic wheatwine, but with a new school hop lineup.
Winter’s Barleywine
This is kind of a hybrid English/American barleywine.
Grape Ale: Pyment’s beery cousin
While the combination of wine grapes and beer dates back millennia, up until the last decade or so the modern craft beer movement has largely overlooked it. Get the scoop on grape ales and how Italian brewers helped pioneer the style.
Homebrew Chicha Beer
Homebrew Chicha Beer (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.048 FG = 1.010IBU = 0 SRM = 2 ABV = 5.1% This is a more traditional, rustic version using homemade and
Cervecería Quiteña’s Fandango clone
Cervecería Quiteña’s Fandango clone (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.040 FG = 1.002IBU = 0 SRM = 2 ABV = 5% My deepest thanks go to Andrés Erazo of Cervecería
Chicha Beer
Chicha beer is a modern interpretation of the historical chicha drink from the Andean region of South America that respects tradition by using elements of the historical style with modern methods and ingredients. This reimagined style is open to interpretation, but is most often brewed with corn and other ingredients native to Latin America, has a slight sourness, skips the hops, and should be drank fresh. Learn more about this rustic style and how to brew your own chicha beer.
Belgian Tripel: A beer deserving respect
Created within the walls of the Westmalle monastery in the 1930s, the Belgian tripel is now one of the most iconic beer styles in a country replete with them. Go in depth with Gordon Strong to learn about it.
